Awkward
by it just kind of happened
Summary: One-shot. My first ever fanfiction, don't kill me! This is just a look at Sean's feelings/whatever when he's by himself at the center of the earth. I did change like two or three things, but that's it. I suck at summaries and I rated it T to be safe!


**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the clothes on my back. And a lot of other stuff. But not this. If I did own this, then I would be out spending my money at Aeropostale. ;) Unfortunately, again, I do not own it. Don't sue me.**

**This is my first ever fanfiction: please do not murder me. Thanks!**

Awkward

It was cold, so cold. It pierced Sean's skin, giving him goosebumps and making him want to curl up in some hidden corner and fall asleep. He sat on the edge of the make-shift raft, splinters crawling into his legs. Sean coughed, rubbed his hands together, and looked across the murky waters.

"Trevor?" he asked, "do you think we're going to make it?"

His uncle, Trevor, glanced back at him momentarily. He exchanged a look with Hannah, their mountain guide. "Depends," he said softly with a grave expression on his face. After that, there was a painfully awkward silence.

Sean didn't like that answer. Chills raced up and down his spine. He shivered, pulled his knees to his chest, and rested his cheek on them. _Why am I so cold? It's like, a hundred degrees in here._ The obvious reply would be that he was getting some sort of disease, but he decided not to think so.

Hannah and Trevor were presently trying to hold the raft together, pulling on the rough ropes that were attached to their faux sail.

Sean wrinkled his nose, staring past his flirting uncle and beginning to day-dream of better places. That was when Hannah let out a sudden cry.

"I thought we were _past_ the fish!" exclaimed Sean, thinking she had witnessed a scaly tail pass them.

She fell back, staring at her bloody hands. Sean rolled his eyes, but then realized the danger of the situation as Trevor, too, let go of the sail. Sean jumped to his aching feet and ran over to Hannah's rope, grabbing a tight hold of it.

"Trevor!" he bellowed, reaching for the other rope.

"No!" yelled Trevor, leaving Hannah for his nephew. "Don't do that, Sean!"

Sean had taken hold of both ropes; he recognized his mistake. He tried to wrap the rope around the nearest wooden pole, but the pole broke with the strength of the wind.

He felt a sudden surge of fear rise within him, threatening to overwhelm him. That was before Trevor started for the other rope.

The wind became abruptly stronger. Sean felt a strange tugging sensation: then, he flew forward, off the raft, his feet dangling. Having always been afraid of heights, Sean let out a terrified shout.

Looking back, it was far too late. His uncle was near to hysteria, calling for Sean, and Hannah was attempting to comfort Trevor to no avail.

Sean looked ahead. He was floating onward, whether he liked it or not. He looked down, and saw how far above the rippling waters he was. His vision quivered for a moment, his brain feeling dizzier by the second. In search of anything familiar, he peered back toward the raft.

Only to find that it was gone.

That was when Sean looked down again. Oddly enough, the water seemed…closer. _Huh? I thought I was higher up than this…_ Sean thought, confused.

Then, he started to plummet toward the water.

Struggling to free his hands from the ropes, Sean felt himself enveloped by liquid faster than he had expected. He kicked at his hands in the hopes that somehow, he could free himself: but as he pulled his hands out and fought to the surface and took a deep breath of sweet, sweet air, his right leg became entangled.

He began to sink down as the sail did. Sean blacked out purely from fear (although exhaustion was setting in also).

Sand filled his vision. Sand was his vision.

Sean rubbed his eyes, sitting up. He expected to receive a mouthful of water, but instead he got oxygen.

"Yes!" Sean muttered, ignoring a slight pain in his lung cavity.

He went to stand, after his eyes adjusted to the light, but his right leg was hurting. It felt as though it was ensnared by something. Sean looked down.

It was, most painfully, ensnared by something: the rope was still wrapped ever so tightly about it. Sean cursed under his breath, sat back down, and tugged on the rope. He grunted, face scrunching up. _Well that sucked,_ Sean thought, pulling harder.

Stinging, aching feelings lanced through his body, gathered at his right calf. He pulled harder, wishing to be free: and then, he was.

"My god," he muttered, looking at his leg.

It was scathed greatly, with blood seeping down the sides; there were rope burns collected from where the rope had been. Sean wondered how long the rope had been there.

_Well,_ he thought, standing on one foot and hopping forward, _I've got to go somewhere._ Sean was starting to be scared again. He was all alone in an unknown place.

Then he heard the semi-familiar chirping.

"Hey, little guy," he said, unable to resist the temptation to smile. He looked up at the luminescent wings of the tiny bird, which cocked its head and chirped at him in an almost concerned way.

"Don't worry," said Sean, waving his hand in the air, "I'll be fine. Hey…do you happen to know where any water is? I wouldn't feel like drinking salt water anyway, but after seeing those weird creatures…"

The bird seemed to understand. He flitted toward a small crevice Sean hadn't bothered to notice before. "Cool," said Sean aloud.

He followed the bird down a couple of tunnels, hearing an ever-growing-in-loudness sound of dripping. Sean swallowed as he heard the sound louder, and louder: finally, he reached the fresh water.

"Thanks, little guy," said Sean conversationally. He looked around. "Where'd you get off to?"

The fluttering of little wings reached his ears. He turned to the left and saw the bird. "Oh, hi again," Sean said, blushing from his stupidity. The bird had been floating beside his head the whole time.

"Do we really have to go this way?" Sean asked, limping forward. He tripped into a huge cavern, and his pocketknife floated out from his pocket.

"Oh my god," Sean said, standing up. "Magnetic field, right, little guy?"

The bird chirped, flying toward the center, then flying back.

"Coming, coming," Sean murmured, stepping toward the center of the room. He saw big chunks of rock, all floating about each other. Before he even had time to think, his brain had figured it out.

If he was to continue onward, he'd have to leap from rock to rock. That is, without falling about, oh, three miles or so.

Sean moaned, and jumped for the first rock.

"Last one," whispered Sean, "last one."

He was sweating again, more likely from the anxiety rather than the body heat. Sean thought, _I can make this. I can so totally make this. I will jump, I will land, I will sit there, and I will jump again, and I will be on solid ground._

Sean stood on both his legs, trying to staunch the pain flowing from his right leg. He got into a runner's starting position, and leaped, adrenaline flowing through his veins.

He landed safely; he thought all was well until he began to teeter on the edge. He grabbed hold of the huge hunk of rock, and it began to move downward.

Feeling nothing but pity for himself, Sean held on as the rock spun. It spun again, then again, then again. Sean whimpered, wishing, if nothing else, for it to end.

Then, it did.

_Am I dead?_ Sean asked himself. He opened his eyes, and saw that the rock had spun so many times that it had landed atop the ground Sean had been trying to reach.

"Thanks, God," Sean said, crawling forward and collapsing onto the rocky earth.

The chirping restarted. "I'm coming," Sean said, standing up and brushing himself off. "relax."

He limped after the bird, at least knowing that if the next trouble had anything to do with spinning, he'd make it halfway.

It was a desolate wasteland, with the exception of a few humongous bones sticking out of the dry ground. Sean cautiously walked forward, thinking of the movie _Dinosaur_ and also _Jurassic Park_.

"There will not be dinosaurs," Sean said just to calm himself. "There will not be dinosaurs."

That was when the earth below his feet (or rather, foot) began to rattle.

"Shit!" Sean yelled, running onward. The bird was ahead of him by several feet, and whatever it was that was behind him was behind by several meters.

Sean hurried faster, and faster, racing around tall rocks and avoiding bones that lay around.

Looking for the nearest possible escape route, Sean saw two cracks, deep in the reddish rock before him. He had crossed the cavern, but which road should he take?

The teenager picked up and rock, and backed into the left tunnel. He saw the looming face of a Tyrannosaurus Rex ahead of him. He swallowed, and making hardly any sound at all, tossed the rock into the other tunnel.

Roaring wildly, the T. Rex hurried into the other tunnel, crashing it open. Sean ran out of his own tunnel, running around the edge and hiding behind an overlarge bone.

The T. Rex suddenly bashed out of the tunnels and sniffed the air. It turned its big head toward Sean's scent and growled.

Sean backed into the wall, finding himself sliding into yet another tunnel. He back-pedaled with his feet, pushing himself up against the only wall he could find.

The dinosaur stuck his head in and roared.

Sean pressed his whole body against the wall, taking ragged breaths. His hands searched for any sort of weapon. He found a sharp, pointed, large rock; when the T. Rex leaned in close, its mouth open for sniffing-the-air purposes, Sean shoved the rock deep into the throat of the monster.

It did nothing.

The T. Rex took in deep breaths of Sean's scent, as if testing its next meal before eating it. Then, it leaned forward, jaws wide open.

Sean started to scream.

Trevor's conscience had been bothering him ever since he'd seen Sean float away on the strings of a ripping sail. Hannah had told him, time and time again, that 'Sean was a smart boy' and that 'He'll be able to find his way to the river anyway.'

Still, Trevor was a worried uncle.

He had said to Hannah several moments ago, "I'm sorry, but I've got to find Sean. If I get out and he doesn't…not only will my sister-in-law never forgive me, I'll never forgive myself either."

She had said that she understood, and that he should go back. She had also said she'd wait at the river.

Presently Trevor was striding through a pretty big cavern. There was nothing of any importance lingering, merely a couple rocks here and there.

He reached the wall opposite him in a matter of seconds. He sat down on a rock, anger filling him: then, he heard an oddly familiar voice. Trevor thought, _No, it's not Sean, it's somebody else. Hannah? No, she's back there, and plus, her voice isn't that deep._

Trevor kicked a rock and leaned back against the wall. He was startled by the abrupt sound of screams. "Sean!?" he hollered at the wall, backing up.

Sean himself was still breathing in air from within the dinosaur's mouth. He was shouting, yelling, screaming himself hoarse as he searched the ground for another rock: he found another, which was bigger than the last.

With his loudest scream of terror, he thrust the rock completely down the T. Rex's throat. This time, the rock went the correct way and into the dinosaur's airway.

Sean stopped screaming, breathing hard. The T. Rex looked as though it would collapse any moment, but still, it turned its monumental head toward Sean and bellowed.

The teenager, of pure fright, screamed once more, then fainted.

Trevor threw rock after rock at the wall, hearing only a faint roaring and then Sean's screams. He was frightened, not for himself, but for his nephew.

"Sean!" yelled Trevor, kicking the wall. He even threw a couple of punches its way, but it wasn't until he body-slammed it that it fell through.

His nephew fell into his arms. Sean was completely unconscious. Trevor put him down and looked into the newly-made cave. A dead Tyrannosaurus Rex was lying on the floor.

"Sean?" asked Trevor, giving him the once-over. Sean didn't seem to have too many injuries, but his right leg appeared positively awful, with two or three gashes cress-crossing it.

Trevor was about to begin to carry Sean back the way he'd come, but just then, Sean blinked open his eyes with a groan.

"That's the second time…" he mumbled. Then he actually sat up and looked around. His uncle was standing in front of him, looking bewildered, relieved, and at the same time, stressed.

Sean hugged Trevor in a brotherly fashion, backing away in a couple of seconds. Trevor gestured to the dinosaur, and asked weakly, "You…?"

The teenager nodded. "Yeah, I threw a rock into its mouth. It got lodged in its air passage."

Trevor and Sean began to walk (or in Sean's case, limp) farther away from the ruins of the dinosaur. They discussed the possible ways to find Hannah, what had happened to both of them, whether or not Hannah had kept the raft that they were still in need of, and then, there was a silence.

It wasn't awkward at all.


End file.
